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University of Dallas Haggar Kitchen Remodel

BRW Architects worked with Aramark, the food service operator, and the university administration to establish projects goals, program space needs, develop concept designs and prepare construction cost budgets.

The primary project goals for the Haggar Café renovation were:

– To improve the queuing / wait times in the servery

– Relocate all food service functions inside an expanded servery to eliminate interference with other activities in the seating areas

– Update the appearance of the servery and seating areas to be more attractive to students and for other functions, like wedding receptions

– Increase the number of specialty menu selections

A primary design concept was to expand the servery to allow the customer to see the food preparation in the servery, rather than the “back” kitchen. Food should be fresh and not served in steam table trays. Most of the existing servery was self-serve, except for the grill which was located at the beginning of the serving line. Because the servery was so narrow, customers queue up at the grill and block passage to the remaining servery.

Aramark’s RFOC (Real Food on Campus) approach was for more made-to-order interaction with the customer at the produce market, deli, display cooking, grill and even hot entree stations. The renovated servery is nearly twice as wide and allows for queuing at made-to-order stations and still allows walk-by circulation. This cooking approach prepares more hot food in the servery, allowing a reduced kitchen size. The existing kitchen bulk cooking area and chief’s table remains, along with the dishwashing.